Fully enclosed cartons that provide protection for the containers housed therein are known in the art. These fully enclosed containers usually are formed from a blank into a carton by a folding/gluing machine that utilizes a forming means, e.g. blades, fingers, or wheels, capable of tucking the sides of a carton inward to ensure that all panels are in the proper position. The carton is folded and glued along the side, top, or bottom panels, is filled with product containers, and proceeds to a folding/gluing operation in the machine. The carton pack is then turned 90° and the side doors of each carton end are closed. The top panel is then railed or forced downward and is glued to the side doors.
Generally, conventional folding machines include longitudinally spaced tucker fingers that act to fold the end flaps during the formation process. These tucker fingers push the door panels together after the carton has been oriented into a specific position. For the tucker fingers to operate, the pack must be turned 90° to close the door panels to form the gusset. The inclusion and operation of tucker fingers along a folding path requires enough space and machinery to perform the 90° turn before folding to allow movement clearance of the tucker fingers. If a folding machine did not require such tucker fingers, the tucking operation could be performed more efficiently with less machine equipment and in less space than conventionally required.